Fly Fishing Getting Started - Books

The off season is a great time to look at old books and to explore new ones as well. Some of the early books I read when I was getting started with fly fishing are still good reads and should not be overlooked. The more recent ones hold fresh insight to many of the locations and changes to many of streams in Pennsylvania.

Before you start striping any line or emptying your wallet you might want to take a look at The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing

by Macauley Lord, **** Talleur and Dave Whitlock. It is one of the best all around general fly fishing books there is for any new angler to the sport. Their book provides essential information about flies, bugs, gear, concepts, traditions and everything from Atlantic Salmon to the zug bug.

A lot of good first hand information can be found in Flyfisher's Guide to Pennsylvania (Flyfisher's Guide Series)

by Dave Wolf and Trout Streams and Hatches of Pennsylvania; A Complete Fly-Fishing Guide to 140 Rivers and Streams

by Charles Meck. Both books are carried by seasoned anglers. They not only help in the where, but try to make sense of the what before you get into a stream.

Reading some of the Pennsylvania fly water type books is how I got started early on. Both these books I am about to mention will probably require a trip to a library. There are over 645 public libraries in Pennsylvania so be brave and track one down. When there check out Dwight Landis's book Trout Streams of Pennsylvania published by Hempstead-Lyndell and Mike Sajna's book Pennsylvania Trout & Salmon Fishing Guide published by Frank Amato Publications. Dwight's book provides a lot of hatch information and detailed maps about where to find many streams. Mike shares a lot of similar information, but adds some unique historic accounts of most of these locations. Both these books are what inspired me to start Paflyfish many years ago.

Also in the library look for An Angler's Guide to Aquatic Insects and Their Imitations for All North America by Rick Hafele. Rick's book is more of a 200 level or great read about insects and can get you going in the world of entomology. A more recent and popular bug book is Hatches II: A Complete Guide to the Hatches of North American Trout Streams

by Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi.

There are many more books to explore and even more dynamic information on the Internet. Please feel to share and comment on some of your favorites as well.

Our next post will be taking a look at getting you going with rods, reels and line.

 

Dave - "Meeting and Fishing the Hatches" is Charlies's first book, written in 1978 if I remember correctly. It's mostly about PA fishing, even though the title doesn't really suggest that. And he does touch on a little western fishing in it.

The later "PA Trout Streams" is certainly a lot more in depth guide book to all of the better streams in out state, however

 

Dave - "Meeting and Fishing the Hatches" is Charlies's first book, written in 1978 if I remember correctly. It's mostly about PA fishing, even though the title doesn't really suggest that. And he does touch on a little western fishing in it.

The later "PA Trout Streams" is certainly a lot more in depth guide book to all of the better streams in out state, however

 

The Armstrong book mentioned in the first comment (the one with the photo of Frank Nale on the cover) was a project Joe undertook with the noble purpose of having all/some of the royalties from the book going to support the TU mission in Pennsylvania is specific.

It's a good book for what it is; an honest speculative exploration of as many of PA's limestone streams as possible sample and assess their worthiness as fishing destinations.

It isn't that hard to find.. As of this writing, Amazon has 6 used copies for sale: http://www.amazon.com/Trout-Unlimiteds-Pennsylvania-Limestone-Streams/dp/0811729443/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265325491&sr=1-1

Joe's book is not the definitive or only PA trout stream guide you'll ever need. It is a neat book though with a lot of anecdotal delights. if you buy it (I imagine the deal still holds), you'll also help the TU mission in PA.

 

The Armstrong book mentioned in the first comment (the one with the photo of Frank Nale on the cover) was a project Joe undertook with the noble purpose of having all/some of the royalties from the book going to support the TU mission in Pennsylvania is specific.

It's a good book for what it is; an honest speculative exploration of as many of PA's limestone streams as possible sample and assess their worthiness as fishing destinations.

It isn't that hard to find.. As of this writing, Amazon has 6 used copies for sale: http://www.amazon.com/Trout-Unlimiteds-Pennsylvania-Limestone-Streams/dp/0811729443/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265325491&sr=1-1

Joe's book is not the definitive or only PA trout stream guide you'll ever need. It is a neat book though with a lot of anecdotal delights. if you buy it (I imagine the deal still holds), you'll also help the TU mission in PA.

 

The Armstrong book mentioned in the first comment (the one with the photo of Frank Nale on the cover) was a project Joe undertook with the noble purpose of having all/some of the royalties from the book going to support the TU mission in Pennsylvania is specific.

It's a good book for what it is; an honest speculative exploration of as many of PA's limestone streams as possible sample and assess their worthiness as fishing destinations.

It isn't that hard to find.. As of this writing, Amazon has 6 used copies for sale: http://www.amazon.com/Trout-Unlimiteds-Pennsylvania-Limestone-Streams/dp/0811729443/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265325491&sr=1-1

Joe's book is not the definitive or only PA trout stream guide you'll ever need. It is a neat book though with a lot of anecdotal delights. if you buy it (I imagine the deal still holds), you'll also help the TU mission in PA.